Barcelona had the option to sign Real Madrid target in 2018, 2019

In a recent interview with Diario AS (h/t Mundo Deportivo), Andres Manzano has revealed that he had offered Barcelona the opportunity to sign Jude Bellingham a few years ago, but the Catalan giants did not bet on him.

Manzano, who is a sports advisor to Birmingham City, was in charge of finding a top club for Bellingham when he left England. As such, he had offered the player to Barça and Real Madrid, but neither of them wanted to pay the fee.

“Bellingham was going to leave and my job also consisted of offering it to important clubs, including Real Madrid and Barça,” Manzano said.

“Both had the opportunity to value it but neither wanted to face the investment that it required at that time. They did not bet on it,” he added.

Manzano added that Barcelona, along with their rivals Real Madrid, are not ruing the decision as Bellingham has now become one of the hottest prospects in world football. “It is evident that they were wrong”, he said.

The sports investor further added that he had a solid impression of Bellingham ever since he started seeing him in action. “As soon as he saw him, I realized that he was facing a different footballer”, he said.

Manzano praised Bellingham for his versatility as well, adding, “Maybe a physical English player like Gerrard or Lampard. But then I saw him many more times, sometimes we put him on the wing to go inside and he reminded me a lot of Zidane because of his condition.”

After being rejected by Real Madrid and Barcelona, Bellingham joined Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2019. It was a calculated risk by the Bundesliga giants that has paid off well, with the youngster now set to attract a figure of over €100 million this coming summer.